Camcorders--DVD vs Memory card which is better?

[mykidslovesdisney]

Which is better? I want to upgrade our camcorder from 8mm to new technology. I was looking at the Canon fs100 and the sony handycam dcr-dvd810. Does anyone have either camera? both are on sale this week. Canon at target for $399 w/ free 4gb memory card. I have a target 10%coupon so it would bring the price down to $349. Also on sale at best buy for $449 w/ free 2 gb mc and an extra battery. The sony is on sale at best buy for $479 w/ a 3 pk of mini dvd-r and an extra battery.

I think w/ the target coupon I could purchase an extra battery for around $80 and still be at the price of best buy but with 2 gb bigger memory card.

Anyone have any input in helping to choose a new camcorder??? We have had 2 handycams in the past. We have been pleased w/ Sony. I also have a Canon digital camera which I absolutely love.

We leave in 42 days for WDW so I want to figure this out soon. Our old handycam battery does not hold a charge plus it is so big. I want something smaller I am leaning toward the canon but dh thinks the sony would be cheaper bc of the mini disc don't cost as much as a memory card and you can pop it right into a dvd player vs needing a computer to play back. I would think you can play back thru the camcorder too. Not sure

any assistance would be appreciated.

 

[monorailsilver]

We just bought a new video camera.

After my dh was looking at the specs he decided a hard drive was the best option for us because something with the image quality & the dvd ones were not that high in quality.

So I went from a Hi8 1993-95 (can't remember when I got it) video camera to this one & boy does it take great video! We got a Sony SR220.

 

[melanie18]

I don't think the DVD kind hold very much. Like the previous poster, we went with a hard drive camera. We bought it at Costco for under $500 and it holds something like 70 hrs of video!

 

[PrincessAbby'sMom]

Right before our December trip to DL, we too purchased a Hard Drive video recorder. You can choose to record to the hard drive or to a memory stick. As the PP said - the quality was to be alot better.

 

[poohbear158]

Hubby and I just bought the sony handycam dcr-dvd810 from Best Buy last night. I can't comment on the quality of this camera since we haven't used it yet. We bought this once because we liked the fact that we could use differed media with it (hard drive, disks or memory stick). Good luck with whatever one you choose.

 

[Avonlady1001]

I have the Sony DVD camcorder from a few years ago. I hate it. I hate that you can't rewind or tape over something unless you spend the $$ on a DVD-RW. I hate that the DVD's are so small I've misplaced so many of them (my own issues, I know)...I never use it! Can you tell I wouldn't recommend it??

My sister just bought one w/ a hard drive and she loves it!! I'd go in that direction.

 

[gaelic grace]

We also just ordered a camcorder with the internal hard drive. We ordered the Canon FS10- it's the one you are looking at buying but with 8GB internal hard drive. Buydig.com has them on sale for 365.00 and free shipping. That's cheaper than what you are looking at and you don't have to worry with a memory card.

 

[Anjelica]

I also second/third/etc. the ones with the hard drives. Eventually the high definition ones with hard drives will come down in price but even the regular hard drive is great.

 

[gullyf]

We have had a Canon HF100 for a couple of weeks now and really like it. The advantages that we saw in a flash card are:
- No moving parts to wear out (there are the contacts to think about, but I have had cards in and out of pda's, cameras, and card readers for years now and nothing has worn out on me yet)
- Far more rugged that either hard drive or dvd disk
- Reusable, can be reformatted
- Can be stored as is and simply replaced with another card
- Larger capacity than a dvd disk- a 16GB SDHC card runs about $50-$60 with an included reader for a pc. For the FS100 that gives roughly between 3 1/2 and 10 1/2 hours of recording time, depending on quality. 4 and 8 GB cards are cheaper still, but give less recording time of course.
- Smaller capacity than a hard drive. Sounds contradictory, but having room for 70 hours of video means I am likely to wait until I have 69 hours recorded before I do anything with it. That's a lot of video to have at risk.
- Camera is physically smaller
- Transfer to PC for editing is easy and doesn't require the camera... just insert the card into the usb reader and drag and drop.

Good luck with whatever you decide on...

Gully

 

[donald&daisy]

Run away for the DVD camcorders....the technology just isn't there yet. If you want to do any editing it is virtually impossible. My sweet Dbf bought me a DVD camcorder for Xmas this past year and we took it on vacation to Philly/NYC and while it was easy to operate, when I got home I could do nothing with the raw footage. I did some research, and ended up with a mini-DV camcorder just b/c it is an established format, I can easily download it to my computer and burn it to dvd after editing it. I love it.

If you aren't interested in the mini-DV, then I would recommend the internal memory kind. If you really want some informed opinion try the cnet.com forums. Those people really know there stuff and helped me a TON when I was trying to figure out what I needed/wanted.

 

[angwill]

I have the sony dvd camcorder and love it. Very easy to use and nice to use at night with the nightshot. You can get DVD+-RW on Amazon for cheap too. You get about a half hour per disc but honestly even taping all of wishes takes less than a half an hour of disc space. When I researched the hardrive camcorders I kept hearing that they have not been out long enough to rely on. I see others feel differently and I say go with your gut.

 

[speedyf]

I think the future will probably be the memory card cameras or maybe a hybrid of hard drive / memory card.

You can get 8GB memory cards for about $30 online.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=sd%20card%208gb&bop=And&Order=PRICE

Some laptop manufacturers are going to "solid state" drives...meaning replacing hard drives with an array of memory cards. Dell makes one that has a 64gig "solid state" drive.

Hard drives have moving platters to store information versus a non-moving memory stick. The stick is better in that it takes less power (no moving parts) and it has less parts that can eventually fail. The memory sticks are also lighter and the cameras that are being released now will be even smaller and lighter with memory sticks. The batteries will be smaller because the camcorder will draw less power....or the batteries will be the same but last longer.

Also...you can buy an unlimited amount of memory sticks (just like tapes or DVD's)...so your space to hold video during one trip is unlimited (although it may get a little costly).

I know JVC makes a hybrid hard drive (30gb) with a memory card slot for additional memory.

I personally can't recommend one over the other since I have no experience with either. We still have a mini-dv tape unit....but, I would purchase a memory stick player if I were in the market right now.

Just my opinion....

Speed

 

[nena]

My mom bought a new camcorder/camera with both a DVD and a Memory card, extra battery, carrying case and 3 dvd's from costcco for $320!!! I think it was cannon.

 

[bear74]

thanks I will give this info to DH